Naruto Soup: A Plethora of Snapshots
by Saiyagirl
Summary: A Snapshot: Something we don’t usually (or might not ever) see in the manga or anime, AKA the “Unwritten Fillers” of the series. Contains camaraderie, rivalry, two parts teamwork and three parts romance. Pairings: SasuSaku, ShikaIno, KibaHina, NejiT
1. For Want of A Girl

Well, yes, I _know_ I haven't finished Busu and the Battousai, but I'm working on it, I swear. It's just that my style of writing had changed considerably, and it's difficult to maintain the dark tone that I had going. In the meantime, check out my newest obsession.

This is a collection of snapshots anywhere in the neighborhood of 500 to 2000 words each, based on the series Naruto. A snapshot would be something that you won't normally see in the manga or anime – something that happens in the in-and-out lives of the characters that we can only guess at.

I will warn you now: most of them are going to be Waffy with a capital W. If you're into angst… well, there might be something for you, but not a whole lot.

Some things you should also know:

Not all stories will take place in the same universe. Not all stories will be in chronological order, or even follow a path of continuity (unless I say so) Pairings I like: SasuSaku, ShikaIno, KibaHina, NejiTen, AsuKure, and GenShi (which I've _never_ seen before, by the way…) 

Standard disclaimers apply.

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Title: For Want of a Girl

Genre: Romance/Fluff

Starring: Shikamaru, Ino, and three hyperactive genins

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"Shikamaru-niisan!"

The young man's blood froze at the terrifyingly familiar sound. Even with the warning, he was caught off guard as two whooping girls popped out from of nowhere to tackle him.

"O-Oi!"

Shikamaru went into a flailing, wobbling dance as evil cackles filled the air behind him.

"We have you now, Shikamaru-nii! You're not getting away this time!" Akito declared, stepping into view with the pride of a conqueror. At his heels was small black puppy, the trademark of all those who belonged to the Inuzuka Clan.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes heavenward and prayed for patience. Hanging off his arms were Fumari and Haru, their smiles so angelic that it was making him nervous. And gad, they were strong. Shikamaru wasn't sure if he could still feel his fingers.

Girls were so troublesome. Especially younger girls. Really, there was only one reason he was willing to put up with this.

The pressure on his arms tightened enough to make him wince. "All right, all right!" he gave in, "But you'd better let go of my arms. People are going to get ideas."

Haru instantly dropped his arm with flaming cheeks, but Fumari only grinned and held on with dogged persistence. Bugging her Shikamaru-niisan was just too much fun. He was cute – especially when he got annoyed, and oh-so-cool when he was in action. It was just too bad that they didn't get to see much of that.

Shikamaru finally gave up on shaking the girl loose and sighed in exasperation. "What do you three want anyway?"

In Shikamaru's day, Ino's team would have been a rarity. He couldn't remember seeing a single team during the Chuunin Exam dominated by girls. The sudden influx of girls into the Academy a few years ago, however, meant that half of all the genin teams now had the makeup of two girls and a boy.

Sakura had made a fuss a few years ago about the scarcity of women in Anbu and how they didn't seem to get the same recognition, so he really shouldn't have been surprised. That, and the fact that their Fifth Hokage was a great promoter of kunoichi.

Still flustered, Haru explained, "Ino-sensei wants us to replant those rosebushes around the Academy, and it's totally–" she pulled a face "– _trou-ble-some_. Want to help us?"

"Speaking of Ino, is she around?" Shikamaru asked, trying to bring the conversation around to the subject he wanted.

They were standing outside the Academy next to the playground, which previously had been surrounded by lush rosebushes. That is, until a large bulldog had happily demolished every last one of them last week. The "Rosebush Mission", ranked C for importance even though it had a hazard level of zero (aside from pricking the odd finger), was commissioned by the Hokage herself.

Shikamaru strained to catch a glimpse of yellow hair, but Yamanaka Ino was nowhere to be seen. Disappointment twinged.

"She said she had to go somewhere," Akito told him. "Probably just fixing her hair again. She went nuts when she found that beetle."

Shikamaru smiled to himself. Ino's vanity _was_ legendary among the jounin.

"Why, did you want to see her?" Haru asked good-naturedly.

"Yeah. Important message from the Hokage."

As proof, he fished out the small, folded slip of paper from his pocket and dangled it in front of them. Fumari peered at it suspiciously as her two teammates crowded behind her.

Akito whistled. "Wow, this was only issued four minutes ago. You're even better than those messenger hawks they keep around."

Shikamaru's eyebrow twitched.

"Hm. It doesn't seem like you to do things so efficiently, Shikamaru-niisan," Fumari said with narrowed eyes.

The Chuunin smirked. Without missing a beat he replied, "It only takes three minutes to walk here from the Administrative Office. Besides, the Hokage was threatening me with promotion again, and I can't have that."

"…Oh."

They all knew of his promotion-phobia. It had been an ongoing source of blackmail from the Hokage for the past year.

Shikamaru sighed inwardly with relief. He had expected them to get suspicious sooner or later at his frequent visits, but he'd always held them off with carefully planned alibis. If they ever found out the real reason why he was always showing up… Well, he'd never hear the end of it.

"Akito! Fumari! Haru! You three had better not be slacking off while I was gone!" Yamanaka Ino chose that moment to appear around the corner of the Academy. She was resplendent in orange, in defiance of the green jounin uniform that she claimed was unfashionable. No one, of course, was brave enough argue with her.

"I-Ino-sensei!" Akito gulped, inching away.

Fumari and Haru did the smarter thing and darted behind Shikamaru, using him as a shield. They knew that he had known her much longer than they have.

Ino drew to a halt as she approached, her irritation quickly replaced with puzzled surprise. "Shikamaru? What are you doing here?"

The young man in question gave her a crooked half-smile and produced the folded note. Ino took it from his hand and read it carefully.

"Message from the Hokage… summoned to the Administrative Office… as soon as physically possible… _dress formally_?" Ino's eyebrows shot up. She waved the slip in front of Shikamaru. "Do you know what this is about?"

"What makes you think I would know?" he mumbled.

Fumari poked her head out from under his arm. "Because you're Konoha's top strategist, and you get more action from the higher-ups than any chuunin has a right to."

"It's more troublesome than fun, I tell you," said Shikamaru. "I've had the Hokage on my case about becoming a jounin for ages."

"Wait a second," said Ino, crossing her arms. "Dress formal? What is that supposed to mean? How formal is formal? Is she talking business-formal?"

Shikamaru shrugged, at a loss. "Whatever you plan to wear, you'd better hurry. 'As soon as physically possible' means that –"

"– Unless I've broken every bone in my body, I had better be there pronto," Ino finished, rolling her eyes. "I know the drill."

All three of her students brightened at the news. "Does that mean we can go home?"

"No, it means that you three have one last chance to complete this mission before I start filing failure reports," Ino put her hands on her hips, an old habit that she never lost. "And no cheating by dragging unsuspecting ninjas into it." She indicated Shikamaru with a jerk of her head.

Their groans were prematurely silenced by one skilled glare. Ino's normally sky-blue eyes could flash into pure steel at a moment's notice.

"I guess that means you'd better get going," said Shikamaru.

"But Ino-sensei, are you sure you want to leave us out here all by ourselves?" Fumari asked suddenly, sidling out from behind Shikamaru.

Haru caught on quickly and cooperated. "Yeah, I mean, just imagine what sort of trouble we'd get into once you're gone."

Akito was a little slower on the uptake. "What? But I thought we _wanted_ Ino-sensei to–"

Ino's eyebrows furrowed suspiciously. She could tell they were up to something, she just didn't know what.

Fumari continued, "Wouldn't you feel lots better if there was someone _responsible_ to supervise us?"

"Someone like Shikamaru-niisan?" Haru added with round, hopeful eyes.

Shikamaru's mouth opened to give a flat refusal, but the words died when he saw the sly look on Ino's face.

"Coming from you two, that's a pretty good idea," she declared. "I think that's just what I'll do."

Four mouths dropped open, two from disbelief, one from incredulity, and one from disappointment.

"Do I get any say in this at all?" asked Shikamaru, wondering how exactly a girl could to rob him of his afternoon so fast.

Haru, Fumari, and Ino all shook their heads with maternal firmness.

"If I had wanted to take care of a bunch of genin, I would've just let the Hokage promote me," he grumped.

Ino glared at him. "Well, you're not doing anything right now, are you?"

"Actually – "

"Oh, come off it. You love these kids as much as I do. You wouldn't want them to fail a C-rank mission, would you?" asked Ino sweetly. At Shikamaru's flat look, however, she quickly changed tactics. Reaching out, she grabbed his arm and drew him aside. "Okay, if you're not going to do it for them, then at least do it for me?"

Inwardly, Shikamaru felt himself freeze. There was no way he could refuse _that_ look. "Oh – fine, seeing as how I appear to have all the time in the world anyway…"

Ino grinned widely. "I knew you'd come through! See that they don't burn the school down, okay?" And to his great surprise, she gave him a quick hug and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

He was still reeling as Haru and Fumari cheered in the background, but as he stood up to face the three terrors, only one thought permeated his mind:

_That just made everything worth it._

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AN: My absolute favorite Naruto pairing ever. So here they are, a jounin and a chuunin, and _still_ not together? Rest assured, I will rectify that in a later short. Age-wise, I estimate them to be 21/22 or so.

I like to think that Ino will be the first to become a jounin. She's not a genius and she's not a particularly great ninja, but, like Shikamaru, she does have a skill unique to her and some nice redeeming qualities. She's also a part of Team 10 (which is considered something of a joke) but look who was the first to become chuunin. --

Hmm…this might actually become a snapshot later on, depending on how prolific I am.


	2. Missing

SPOILERS ALERT!

For people who are following the anime and are stuck on those 100-plus fillers, you WILL be confused (or shocked into a state of near-catatonia, like me). For people who are following the manga and have reached chapters 220-plus, you're good to go.

Standard Disclaimers Apply.

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Title: Missing

Genre: Drama

Starring: Sakura and her missing-nin. No, literally.

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Sakura was startled into wakefulness by the sound of scratching wood. A scratching that gradually grew until she was quite certain that it wasn't just a branch against her window.

Her eyes fluttered open to hazy darkness. It was her own bedroom, all right. She could see her wardrobe across the room, the dresser, the desk next to her, the little turtle lamp on her desk … Everything was where it should be. So why did she feel so insecure? Sakura blinked bolted upright.

Someone was trying to wrench open her window from the outside.

Instantly she felt for the kunai under her pillow and weighed her chances of a surprise attack. Unlike most of the kids in Konoha, her parents weren't ninjas. In a situation like this, she was the best one in the house for the job.

Her confidence rose several notches when she realized that the burglar seemed to be having some trouble getting her window to open. That meant that he probably wasn't too competent. All the better for her.

Finally, with a _crack_, the wood gave way and the window swung open. A gust of cold night air swept in but by then Sakura was already out of bed.

With the speed only a ninja could muster, she flew to her window and struck. A startled gasped escaped her when something caught her wrist. The next thing Sakura knew, a hand had appeared on her windowsill, followed by a face. A face framed by matted black hair and eyes that glowed red in the moonlight.

"Sa-Sa…Sas…" Sakura continued gaping like a fish long after the words died in her throat. The kunai slipped from her fingers and clattered to the ground several stories below her.

Still gripping her wrist in one hand, the imposing figure of Uchiha Sasuke dragged himself through her window and dropped onto her carpet, shoes, blood stains and all.

Sakura's scream was stuck in her throat. Terrified and helpless in shock, her chest rose and fell as she tried to tried to remember to breathe.

Instead of attacking, however, Sasuke straightened and supported himself against the wall. To her stunned surprise, his eyes faded presently to black. After a hesitation, he dropped her hand as well.

Sakura swallowed and began to back away. "What… How… ?"

"Itachi's dead."

Sakura nodded mechanically to this bizarre statement. "Oh."

She knew, of course, what had happened to the Uchihas. One of them, the elder son and heir to the clan had apparently gone rogue massacred the whole family. Past that, Sakura wasn't really keen on delving into. The motives and betrayal and family dynamics were all too twisted for her to understand anyway.

"I need someplace to stay for tonight."

Sakura stared at him. Suddenly, she felt the wall bump against her back. She had unconsciously backed into the door right across the room. Nervously, she laughed. "Stay? Here?"

"I don't have anywhere else to go."

"W-What about the Uchiha House?"

"They've renovated it – it's been completely emptied."

Sakura wanted to kick herself. Of course she knew that they had made the Uchiha Estate property of Leaf Village. With the last of its inhabitants gone and the bloodline for all intents and purposes wiped out, there was no reason to keep it around.

Sakura searched the boy furtively for signs of anger, but there was only emotionless calm about him. Oddly enough, this comforted her. This was the Sasuke she remembered, the Sasuke she had grown up with.

A quick shake of her head brought her back to reality. He's not what he looks like, she reminded herself firmly. After all, there must've been a good reason why he was the youngest missing-nin to down on record in a hundred years.

He had thought nothing of betraying his village and friends all for the sake of a revenge that would get him killed anyway. He had abandoned her, thought of her as nothing but a nuisance since the day they met, and left her to cry in the rain. _And,_ _he almost killed Naruto_.

Sakura had no illusions about the boy standing in front of her. And yet…

"There's…there's an extra futon. In the cupboard," she said softly, and went to fetch it.

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Sleep was an impossibility. Sakura turned to the clock on her dresser and watched as 2:30 blinked steadily back at her. How did anyone expected to sleep when he was lying _right there_ at her feet?

Careful not to rustle her blankets, she sat up and leaned forward. Sakura had a good, solid mattress that didn't squeak, so she made no noise as she peered gingerly over the edge of her wood-framed bed.

Spread out at the foot of her bed was her spare futon, containing one sleeping shinobi in complete disarray.

Somehow, in the surreal aftermath of his sudden arrival, they had managed to work out a silent form of communication. Without exchanging a single word between them, the two went their separate ways: Sasuke to clean himself up in the bathroom and she to fetch a spare set of pajamas from her parent's room and set up the futon.

As she watched him, Sakura was struck by the way he slept: curled into a ball, clutching his blankets, eyebrows knitted together as if he were expecting an attack even in sleep. He looked exactly the same as he had two years ago during the Chuunin Exams. For some reason, she had expected to see a difference – after all, the revenge that he had give up everything for was finally complete.

So why did he still seem as haunted as ever?

Sakura slid back into bed and stared at the ceiling. She was itching to do something besides count dots on the white plaster, but at the same time terrified of getting up and walking around. If she so much as put a toe on the floor, he was going to wake up and kill her, she was certain of it.

Instead, she lay awake until pure exhaustion claimed her – and it must've been at least four in the morning by then. All she remembered was her eyelids drooping and drooping until they simply stayed closed. The next thing she knew, she was wide awake and staring at a clock that read 5:45.

Sakura shot up and scrambled to the foot of her bed. She didn't know what she was expecting, but there was no Sasuke to be seen. All that was left was a folded futon with her father's old pajamas sitting on top.

"Eerp!" Sakura bolted out of bed. Quelling the urge to phone Ino (she wouldn't be up anyway), she edged over to her window and poked it gingerly.

It was still dark out, but she could easily see that half of the windowsill had been ripped away. Splinters of wood stuck up in every direction. Sakura stuck her head out as far as she could and scanned the line of houses in the distance. A thin stream of worry had begun to beat in her chest, worries that she knew were mostly groundless but nagged at her nonetheless.

What if he showed up in town? What if the Anbu saw him? What if _Naruto_ saw him?

As she was bending over to clean up the muddy footprints on her carpet, something caught her eye. It was a note written in red ink – short, curt, and unmistakably Sasuke. The words themselves weren't too alarming, but no matter how Sakura looked at it, it still sounded like some sort of coded death threat.

Quickly she crumpled the note and tossed it into the trash bin, but by then the law of Inverse Memory Capacities had already taken its toll. What she most wanted to forget, of course, was now cemented into her head:

_Sakura,_

_Thank you. I won't forget. _

_--Uchiha Sasuke_

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AN: I have this thing for forgotten couples, and if Sasuke Sakura aren't the forgotten couple, then I don't know who is. In all honesty, it's probably the most canon of all canon pairings, and yet everyone seems convinced that they're not meant to be. (Check out of the number of Sasu Naru/Itachi/Shinobi X fics on the net and you'll see what I mean. ::sigh::)

If you asked me, Sasuke is a traitorous little snake that deserves the beating that I just know is coming to him. This whole story revolves around the premise that nobody succeeds in saving Sasuke, and thus he is left to rot in Orochimaru's hands for awhile until he finally kills his brother and comes to his senses. Or, at least, a portion of his senses. -- He, apparently, still has enough of it to go to the one person who wouldn't try to kill him on sight (or at least scream bloody murder) to find lodging.

Originally, I was going to turn this into a short series about how Sasuke finally realizes that Sakura is the only one for him. But then I guess I found the idea of writing out their entire courtship too daunting, and shorted it to just their first meeting after a two-year absence. I think what I have, by itself, already says enough, ne?

Oh, and in case anybody was wondering, this is NOT my prediction for the future of the manga. People seem to like jumping on the "Bye-bye-Chouji" bandwagon way too much, but I really, reeeeaaally don't want him to die. Heck, who really wants a main character to die?

To Reviewers: Thanks for the support and encouragement

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Next up: A disgruntled tutor, a curious student, a goban, and some complicated family politics -- (you know which one).


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